


Dare You To Move

by Spacecadet72



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-22 23:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16607543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Movement and how it has affected Anne, Phillip and most importantly, both of them together.





	Dare You To Move

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 10 of the 30 day multi-fandom one shot challenge I'm doing instead of nanowrimo this year. The prompt was move.
> 
> Title comes from the song of the same name by Switchfoot.

Phillip had never really seen himself as a dancer. His talents lay in writing and plays, and trying not to look too bored at whatever function he was required to attend. He knew the kind of dancing his parents thought he needed for an eligible marriage. He could waltz well enough to not step on his partner’s toes, and that was all he thought he needed.

When he joined Barnum’s circus, he assumed it would be in a strictly business capacity: providing funds, filling out paperwork and making sure that the circus stayed afloat. P.T. was the performer. Phillip was much more comfortable with a behind the scenes role, like with his plays. Actors brought his words to life and he stayed backstage.

But then Anne and Lettie and Charles goaded him into joining rehearsals, especially when P.T. was unavailable and they needed a body to fill the ringleader role. He tried to decline, to tell them that he had paperwork to finish.

“The paperwork can wait, Carlyle,” Lettie had said, folding her arms and shooting him a stern look.

“You spend too much time in your office,” Charles had added in a way that Phillip knew he was being teased, but not mocked. It wasn’t a dynamic he was used to.

He had planned on still saying no until Anne had turned to him and simply asked “Please?” with a gentle smile and he knew it was no use. He had donned the bright red jacket P.T. had made for him and jumped in with the others.

It hadn’t taken him as long as he thought it would to pick up the steps, and he hadn’t realized the joy that could come from moving like this. For not the first time, he was reminded just how freeing the circus really was.

* * *

 

Anne had been dancing for as long as she could remember, and flying for almost as long. She had danced around their small apartment as a child, moving to music no one else could hear. Her momma had always called her “my little dancer” and Anne had known she had been born to move.

The opportunity to learn trapeze had presented itself when she was small and the traveling circus needed performers and they had needed money. Her momma had traveled with them, working as a laundress for the troupe while she and W.D. had learned and performed. She started as a dancer, until the ringleader had caught her watching the trapeze practice more than once.

“Would you like to learn?” he had asked and she had nodded enthusiastically.

Her and W.D.’s lessons had commenced and if Anne thought she knew how to move before, this was entirely new. It was one thing to know where you body was and what it could do on the ground, but it was something else to have to rely on your instincts high above the ground.

After their mother passed away and the circus closed down, she and W.D. had a hard time finding work as performers. No one wanted to hire black trapeze artists and dancers.

Anne tried to dance and keep up her skills as often as she could while working as a maid or a laundress. She was afraid they would never perform again. Then they saw P.T.’s flyers and went to audition.

Being able to fly again brought joy to Anne’s soul and she knew W.D. felt the same.

The only other time that she felt the way she did in the air was when she was talking to Phillip Carlyle, except in that she was much more afraid of falling.

* * *

 

“What are you doing up so late?” Anne asked as she walked into the ring. Only the central light was on, leaving the majority of the tent in shadow.

Phillip looked up from the rope he was holding at her voice and shot her a sheepish grin. “I couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d practice.”

Anne had been teaching him some basic trapeze and other tricks, and while he typically only practiced with her or W.D., there had been an itch under his skin as he sat still in their tent and he knew he had to get out and _move._

“Want a practice partner?” she asked, walking further into the ring.

Phillip smiled. “Always. Especially one as pretty as you.”

Anne rolled her eyes and gently took the rope from him. She wrapped it around her wrist, and moved his hand up to grasp the rope above her hand. She then moved his other arm around her waist and moved her arm around his shoulders. She felt him tighten his grip on both her and the rope and with one pull, they were flying.

They were silent as she moved them through different routines. Phillip either knew what he needed to do, or she would softly take his hand and direct him to where he should move next. This movement was nothing like anything he had ever experienced. He loved to dance, and relished in his role as the ringleader, but there was something about being up in the air, high above everyone that made him feel truly free.

It was even better with her.

They moved in sync, becoming almost extensions of each other as they spun and floated through the air. For one particular move, they had to hold on to each other tightly, literally carrying each other’s weight. It reminded Phillip of the life they were creating with each other, how they supported each other without hesitation.

After both of them were sweaty and Phillip felt like his muscles might revolt in protest, Anne lowered them to the ground. They stood in each other’s embrace for a moment. Phillip leaned his forehead against hers.

“I love you,” he said, his voice ragged.

She pulled back and looked at him, a soft smile on her lips. “I love you,” she said before walking the rope over to the hook on one of the tent poles. “Now, let’s go to bed,” she said, pulling his arm.

He let her lead him. He would follow her anywhere.


End file.
